Vacuum cleaners are well known in the art. One type of vacuum cleaner is of the canister-type and includes a canister connected to a tubular wand by way of a flexible hose. At the end of the wand is a nozzle in the form of a wheeled powerhead which includes a rotating brush driven by an electric motor. An electrical power cord extends from the powerhead and runs along the wand. The end of the power cord is connected to electrical wires embedded in the flexible hose. The wires in the flexible hose run to the canister to allow for the supply of power to the powerhead.
The releasable connection between the wand and the powerhead is usually in the form of a spring biased latch on the wand which is received by an opening formed in a tubular connector on the powerhead. In order to release the connection, the latch must be pushed into the wand through the opening so that the wand can be pulled from the powerhead. In the past to release this type of connection, it was necessary to push manually the latch through the opening in the wand while at the same time pulling on the wand. As should be appreciated this task required dexterity and was inconvenient.
To facilitate the removal of a wand from a powerhead, alternative connections between the wand and powerhead were developed. One such design requires the wand to be rotated within the tubular connector on the powerhead to push the latch through the opening and into the wand to allow the wand to be removed from the powerhead. Although this design facilitates removal of the wand from the powerhead, difficulties are encountered due to the fact that the power cord, which runs from the powerhead to the flexible hose along the outside of the wand, becomes twisted as the wand is rotated. This requires the power cord to be disconnected from either the flexible hose or the powerhead before the wand is removed from the powerhead. Alternatively slack can be maintained in the power cord but this slack often gets in the way when using the vacuum cleaner. Also, a two-step process is required to release the wand from the powerhead in that the wand must firstly be rotated before it can be pulled axially away from the powerhead.
To deal with these problems, alternative couplings for vacuum cleaners have been developed. For example, Canadian Patent No. 1,288,205 to Whirlpool Corporation discloses a quick release wand for a canister vacuum cleaner. The quick release includes a foot operated lever to contact the latch and push it through the opening and into the wand to allow the wand to be removed from the powerhead.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,880,258 to Tillman et al. discloses a quick release for the telescoping parts of a vacuum cleaner wand. A force transfer structure is positioned on one of the parts adjacent a hole which accommodates a resilient post on another of the parts. The force transfer structure has a large planar inner surface for contacting the post to urge it through the hole when a user pushes on the force transfer structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,758,023 to Vermillan discloses a removable coupling for tubing such as a vacuum cleaner hose. The coupling includes a male connector which is received by a female connector. The male connector has a pair of resilient diametrically opposed projections on it. The female connector has guide channels formed in it to accommodate the projections. A pair of apertures are located at inner ends of the guide channels. When the connectors are to be engaged, the male connector is inserted into the female connector with the projections received in the channels. The male connector is then pushed into the female connector until the projections come to the end of the channels. The male connector is then rotated so that the projections snap into the apertures. The sides of the channels adjacent the apertures are configured to define cam surfaces so that when the male connector is rotated back, the projections can reenter the channels.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,351,359 to Fararris discloses an adjustable length vacuum cleaner having a wand defined by an inner wand section and an outer wand section. The inner wand section has a row of hemispherical depressions in it which receive a ball carried by the outer wand section. The inner surface of the outer wand section urges the ball into one of the depressions to inhibit relative axial movement of the wand sections. The outer wand section can be rotated to bring a space into alignment over the ball allowing the ball to be removed from the hemispherical depression. The length of the wand can then be adjusted by sliding the inner wand section axially with respect to the outer wand section.
Although these prior art patents disclose alternative connections for vacuum cleaner wands, better designs are desired to facilitate the connection and release of the wand from the vacuum cleaner powerhead. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel quick release for a vacuum cleaner and a vacuum cleaner incorporating the same.